Adrian Cravath Larkin

Adrian Cravath Larkin

Adrian Cravath Larkin, 94, passed away on June 8, 2014, at his home in Thousand Palms, California, following complications from a stroke suffered in 2011. Adrian was a patron of the arts and a classical music expert, having served as an artistic adviser for the Musicians Emergency Fund, a charity his grandfather, prominent New York attorney Paul Drennan Cravath, helped establish to assist classical musicians during the Great Depression. He worked for many years at the Institute of International Education in New York, where he managed scholarship programs and cultural exchanges in the fine and performing arts. He attended Harvard College and served in the Army in the Pacific theater during World War II. Before moving to California in 1987, he lived for many years on Massachusetts' North Shore, where he refurbished unique, historic properties, including a lighthouse-keeper's cottage on Rockport's Straitsmouth Island. His lifelong passions included high-end automobiles, Old English sheepdogs (and dogs of any persuasion), fine dining and extra-dry martinis, the Metropolitan Opera, gardening, interior design, and the acoustics at Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall. He had a special affinity for children and would regale them with penny hunts and tickle torture, as well as provide academic support and encouragement. He is survived by his nephew Peter Gibbs and his wife Margaret Martinez of Wheat Ridge, Colorado; his niece Susan Gibbs and her husband Theodore Piccone and their children Antonia, Lewis, and Theodora Piccone of Washington, D.C.; his brother's wife, Margaret Gibbs of Rehoboth, Delaware; his dog Jobie; and many beloved and bereft caregivers and friends. He was preceded in death by his partner Roger Smith; his parents Vera Cravath Gibbs and James Satterthwaite Larkin; his stepfather William Francis Gibbs; and his brothers Francis Cravath Gibbs and Christopher Longstreet Gibbs. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Metropolitan Opera Guild, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10023-6593, or www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/support/gifts/memorial.aspx; or the Musicians Emergency Fund, FDR Station Box 1256; New York, NY 10150. A private celebration of his life will take place in the Palm Springs area on Saturday, June 28, 2014.

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